Good Trade Collection: Showcase Presents Batman and the Outsiders Volume 1 DC 2007

 As an avid DC comics comic book reader, I've also loved Batman. In 1983, Batman quit the Justice League because a friend of his was captured in the war-torn country of Moldavia (not a real country) and the League agreed to stay out of the country because of politics. Batman decided he would rescue his friend without the league and formed his own league of heroes- some of them not known before. In DC Showcase Presents "Batman and the Outsiders: Vol. 1  - the first 19 issues of that series are reprinted.

The new team includes a couple of known heroes, such as Black Lightning, Metamorpho the element man and Katana, the Japanese sword expert. It also includes new heroes created for the series: GeoForce and Halo.  The series was written by Mike Barr and illustrated by famed Batman illustrator, Jim Aparo. 

I had never read the series in the 1980s because I was in college and couldn't afford comics anymore, so I stopped reading them. I'm glad I found this reprinted volume (it's a lot cheaper than buying 19 classic comics). 

I enjoyed the mystery around the unknown background of the female hero, Halo- who can manipulate light in the form of "halos" of various colors with different properties, and the new Geo-force character, a prince of the country of Markovia imbued by science with powers over earth and gravity.  

The entire collection was well done, except for the last couple of issues, which I didn't care for- that took the group back into ancient Egypt, and mysteriously, everyone spoke English, even the ancient Egyptians. There was no reference to how they understood each other, so that whole storyline lost me. Otherwise, it was a fun collection to read!